Tag: HollywoodReporter

Shares of Snap were up 12 percent after hours Monday as the social media platform beat second-quarter revenue expectations. 

Revenue increased 19 percent year-over-year to $1.60 billion, as monthly active users grew to 971 million, up from 956 million in the prior quarter, and daily active users reached 493 million, up from 483 million in the prior quarter. The company reported a net loss of $164 million, after a net loss of $263 million in the prior year, as part of its renewed focus to reach profitability. 

But beyond the current revenue growth that’s being seen around the app, and the company’s new “more focused, AI-enabled operating model.” CEO Evan Spiegel outlined that he sees the company’s future in its newest version of wearable technology. 

“Our largest long-term opportunity is SPECS, a new kind of computer built into see-through glasses. SPECS are designed for a future in which AI does more work on our behalf and people spend less time operating screens. I believe we can pursue that future from a much stronger position by continuing to improve our core business and remaining disciplined about how we invest,” Spiegel said in the press release. 

Snap announced the new wearable glasses in June, setting up pre-orders of the $2,195 glasses with expected shipment this fall in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. The glasses were described as a mix of other AI glasses and VR headsets, offering tech such as directions, AI assistance, the ability to stream content and overlay interactive lessons onto surfaces. The glasses don’t officially launch until Sept. 16. 

Still, Snap has attempted glasses in the past and has not seen big returns. The company launched Spectacles, camera-equipped sunglasses that recorded short videos, in 2016. These were not big sellers and caused the company, in 2017, to report losses due to excess orders. The company later released updated versions of the glasses and then new AR glasses in 2021. 

The company said the investment in SPECS is included in its full-year adjusted operating expense outlook, which remains $2.75 billion. Snap’s guidance range for Q3 revenue is $1.70 billion to $1.74 billion, and the company also expect infrastructure costs to grow modestly with full-year costs of $1.65 billion to $1.70 billion due to continued investments in the company’s AI-enabled operating model.

All of this comes after the company laid off 1,000 employees, including 16 percent of full time employees, were laid off at the company in April. The company said the layoffs would reduce the company’s annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026, which would help the company get closer to profitability.

“Last fall, I described Snap as facing a crucible moment, requiring a new way of working that is faster and more efficient, while pivoting towards profitable growth. Over the past several months, we have carefully reviewed the work required to best serve our community and partners and made tough choices to prioritize the investments we believe are most likely to create long-term value,” Spiegel said at the time. 

One possible obstacle for the business moving forward, as the company noted, is a number of trials as well as “regulatory scrutiny” related to the use of the app by younger generations.

“We continue to monitor the evolving legal and regulatory landscape in the United States and internationally that could materially impact our business and financial results, including increased regulatory scrutiny on youth-related issues and several trials scheduled in the United States later this year. While outcomes remain uncertain, they may result in significant changes to our products and business practices, increased compliance requirements and legal costs, increased payments for legal judgments and settlements, and negative impacts to user growth and engagement,” CFO Doug Hott said.

Phil Collins has revealed that he nearly died from alcohol abuse a little over two years ago.

The singer-drummer told the U.K.’s Sunday Times magazine that in April 2024, he was in the hospital, after years of alcohol abuse, unconscious, when his manager summoned his five children to his bedside as it seemed he was on the verge of dying.

“Because there were some decisions to be made about ‘Do we keep Phil on life support?’ kind of thing,” he recalled. “My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up. People were coming to say goodbye. But I don’t remember them coming, I didn’t have no idea this was going on. They were all worried that they wouldn’t see me again. It could all have gone so terribly wrong.”

Collins added that since he was discharged from the hospital, after having spent seven months there, he hasn’t had a drink.

Still, the U.K. Times reports, his pancreas is scarred and kidneys are barely functioning after years of alcoholism, which he wrote about in his 2016 autobiography.

Collins is also dealing with type 2 diabetes, nerve damage that has left him unable to hold drumsticks and and has to use crutches after back and knee surgeries. And he has a 24/7 live-in nurse.

But he’s grateful he made it through his time in the hospital, calling himself “very lucky” and spent four memorable days with his family at the end of last year.

He recalls a moment with his daughter, Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, in which she “was sitting beside me in tears, saying, ‘I never thought I’d get these moments.’ We had an incredible time. I can’t overemphasize how fantastic it was.”

Prime Video‘s God of War series may be on the way to finding a new lead actor to replace the injured Ryan Hurst.

Dave Bautista is in talks to take on the role of Kratos in the series, which is based on the long-running video game franchise. Hurst (The Odyssey, Sons of Anarchy) was originally cast in the role but had to step aside after tearing a bicep while performing a stunt on set.

Prime Video declined comment.

Bautista would be a known quantity to both viewers — via Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Dune Part Two, plus his time as a WWE star — and Amazon MGM Studios, which is producing God of War with Sony Pictures Television. Bautista has appeared in Amazon MGM’s two My Spy movies and The Wrecking Crew and has roles in the studio’s forthcoming features Highlander and Road House 2.

Should Bautista’s deal go through, the goal is to get God of War back into production in Vancouver in the fall. The show’s cast also includes Callum Vinson, Mandy Patinkin, Ed Skrein, Max Parker, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Teresa Palmer, Alastair Duncan, Jeff Gulka and Danny Woodburn.

The series will follow Kratos and his son, Atreus, as they “embark on a journey to spread the ashes of their wife and mother, Faye,” per the show’s logline. “Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human.” The series will be based primarily on the two most recent installments of the game franchise, which introduced Atreus.

Ronald D. Moore (For All Mankind, Outlander), who has an overall deal at Sony, is the showrunner and executive produces with Maril Davis, Cory Barlog, Naren Shankar, Matthew Graham, Asad Qizilbash, Jeff Ketcham, Hermen Hulst, Roy Lee, and Brad Van Arragon. Joe Menosky, Marc Bernardin, Tania Lotia, and Ben McGinnis are co-EPs. Frederick E.O. Toye is set to direct the first two episodes. Sony and Amazon MGM are producing God of War with PlayStation Productions and Moore’s Tall Ship Productions.

U.S. star Woody Harrelson will be honored with an award at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival in recognition of his contribution to cinema.

He’ll receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the Bosnian festival, joining fellow 2026 recipients Emily Watson (also president of the Sarajevo jury), Asghar Farhadi, and the recently announced Diego Luna.

Harrelson has earned three Oscar nominations, including best actor for The People vs. Larry Flynt and best supporting actor for The Messenger and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. He accrued more critical acclaim for starring in Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness.

“Woody Harrelson is one of those actors you believe in even in the most improbable roles, while at the same time you can easily imagine him as someone you might spend time with every day,” said Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival. “That remarkable ease of performance is, in fact, one of the hardest qualities to achieve on screen, yet he delivers it film after film. His talent, charisma, and boldness serve as an inspiration to many future generations. It is our great honor to present him with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo.”

In honor of Harrelson, Michael Winterbottom’s 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo, which premiered at Cannes and was also screened at the third-ever Sarajevo Film Festival later that year, will be screened for audiences. The film examines the war in Bosnia in the mid-1990s, and the role of journalists in its media coverage. It is based on journalist Michael Nicholson’s book Natasha’s Story. The screening will take place at the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema as part of the Open Air program.

He next leads Apple TV’s Brothers alongside Matthew McConaughey, premiering Sept. 23, and stars opposite Kristen Stewart in Quentin Dupieux’s Full Phil, which debuted at Cannes this year. He recently wrapped Netflix’s The Cackling of the Dodos with Sam Rockwell and is producing a documentary on Austin’s iconic Armadillo World Headquarters.

Harrelson also wrote, directed and starred in Lost in London, the first feature film shot in a single continuous take and broadcast live to theaters. His television credits include Cheers, True Detective and The White House Plumbers.

The 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival will run Aug. 14-21.

Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, the Chilean filmmakers who have made a name for themselves with The Wolf House and The Hyperboreans, as well as collaborators of Ari Aster, will world premiere their third feature film, Donkey Princess (Princesa Burro), in the international competition program of the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Friday, Aug. 7.

As was the case with their first two feature films, their new movie is an ambitious cinematic ride. And it comes in the form of an envelope-pushing fairy tale.

The Donkey Princess focuses on Diana, the princess of an ancient kingdom, whose father, King Arthur, has forbidden love. That is why, when Diana falls in love with Lalo, the King simply banishes him. “Using a magical bracelet, Diana travels to other worlds in search of her love,” explains a synopsis. “Discovering that her father manipulates her decisions, she must face her fears and change her destiny.”

The travels that Diana embarks on allow León and Cociña to use the places she visits as a way to explore different film periods and genres. “Diana travels through parallel worlds where each universe transforms the film’s genre,” the creative duo explains in a directors’ note on the Locarno website. “The film brings this constant mutation of realities into live action, where fantasy reshapes everything.”

The cast is led by Antonia Giesen and also features Andrew Bargsted and Francisco Melo. Alejandra Moffat co-wrote the screenplay for Donkey Princess with the directors. The movie, featuring cinematography by Benjamín Echazarreta, was edited by Soledad Salfate, Maria Salazar, León and Cociña. Bendita Film Sales is handling international sales.

“Donkey Princess is our way of reimagining the history of fantasy cinema: a film that engages with this tradition while presenting our own vision of the genre,” León and Cociña highlight in a directors’ statement. “In The Wolf House, The Hyperboreans and in our short films, we have explored worlds where dreams and nightmares dominate the materiality of space, generating universes in constant construction, mutation and destruction. In Donkey Princess, we take these ideas and adapt them into a fiction feature film performed entirely by actors. The story is loosely inspired by the tale Donkeyskin, as recorded in writing by [Charles] Perrault and later adapted for the screen by Jacques Demy.”

But there is really no way to get a feel for a film by León and Cociña other than to watch it. THR can now exclusively premiere a trailer for Donkey Princess. So, check it out right here – and get ready to have your mind blown.

Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled its Open Air program, with films such as the Cannes-premiering Minotaur and Diego Luna‘s Ashes set to screen at the fest’s largest venue, the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema.

Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, starring Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller, will open the section at the Bosnian film festival, with Danis Tanović’s 2001 film No Man’s Land set to close it. The movie takes place in 1993, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By a twist of fate, Čiki, a soldier in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, finds himself trapped in the same trench as Nino, a Bosnian Serb soldier.

Also premiering in the program is Luna’s film about two siblings forced to leave Mexico and head to Madrid to reunite with their mother, who had left a few years earlier to chase a better future. When they arrive, however, the bitter, suffocating reality that awaits them proves far harsher than imagined. Luna spoke to The Hollywood Reporter at Cannes about the making of the film and why it was a deeply personal project.

Also screening is Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, another feature from Cannes, following a successful company director called Gleb, who finds himself under siege from mounting corporate pressures and an increasingly unstable world. The collapse of his carefully ordered life accelerates towards violence.

The Berlinale opener No Good Men from Shahrbanoo Sadat is also set for a Sarajevo premiere. It focuses on Naru, the only camerawoman at Kabul’s main TV station, who struggles to keep custody of her three-year-old son after leaving her husband, a serial cheater. Convinced no good men exist in her country, Naru is caught off guard when Qodrat, Kabul TV’s most respected journalist, gives her a career opportunity.

Among other movies premiering in this section are Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, and Michael Winterbottom’s 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo, in honor of the recently announced Honorary Heart of Sarajevo recipient Woody Harrelson.

Also on Monday, the Sarajevo Film Festival unveiled its Open Air Premiere program, which brings together the most anticipated new films from the region of the former Yugoslavia. These movies are screened at UNIQA Open Air Cinema Stari Grad, and the best film — selected by audiences — will receive the Prix Cineplexx.

Among the features in this selection are Miroslav Terzić’s 3 Weeks After, Miha Hočevar’s Hidden People, and Marijana Jankovic’s Home. Igor Jelinović’s Honey Bunny will screen, as will Darko Štante’s The Lost Son, Predrag Ličina’s The Virus of Pathological Kindness, and Hari Šečić’s The Widower, about a 62-year-old electrician who was raised and lives in a patriarchal society. When his daily routine changes after the sudden death of his wife, Enisa, Mirsad tries to get used to a life without her and soon realizes that he took her for granted.

The 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival will take place Aug. 14-21.

As the investigation into Nancy Guthrie‘s kidnapping case crosses the six-month mark, a new report from The Wall Street Journal is highlighting possible mistakes by the sheriff and lead investigators.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, led by Chris Nanos, has been overseeing the investigation after Savannah Guthrie‘s mom was reported missing on Feb. 1. As of Aug. 2, Nancy hasn’t been found and there have been no arrests in the case.

After reviewing personnel files obtained in public records requests and conducting interviews with current and former county and federal officials and people close to the case, the WSJ has found that there were concerns from the start of the investigation, including who Nanos appointed head of homicide, Sgt. David Stivers.

According to personnel records, Stivers was reprimanded two months before Nancy was kidnapped for “poor judgment,” as he was blamed for delays securing crime-scene evidence in a homicide case. The charges in that case were ultimately dropped for insufficient evidence, The Journal reported.

When it came to Nancy’s case, people familiar with the investigation said Stivers and his detectives ignored the dried blood on her front porch for hours after they arrived on Feb. 1, suspecting that the blood came from some unrelated cause. “They failed to seal off the property with police tape to protect sensitive crime-scene evidence, allowing reporters, livestreamers, and Amazon and pizza delivery drivers entry to the porch,” the WSJ wrote.

After undergoing DNA analysis, the blood samples were later confirmed to be Nancy’s. It’s now believed to be connected to her kidnapping.

The WSJ later reported that Nanos promoted Stivers to lieutenant in July. The new role will reportedly take effect in September.

Lt. Heather Lappin — Nanos’ opponent in the November 2024 election, where he was running for reelection (he ultimately won after a recount) — told The Hollywood Reporter in February that Nanos had removed some of the department’s best detectives because they supported her election campaign. “A lot of the Guthrie case is just consequences of his really bad decision-making, the years of decimating his units,” she told THR at the time. “Three of our best homicide detectives, probably in [all of] southern Arizona, were removed from Homicide because they supported me [in the election].”

People familiar with the matter also told the Journal that Nanos put Lappin on administrative leave weeks before Election Day and sidelined deputies who had supported Lappin after being reelected.

The department’s senior pilot, who had backed Nanos’ challenger in the election, was also demoted to patrol duty days before Nancy’s kidnapping following a workplace complaint.

This led to more delays in the investigation on Feb. 1, as the department struggled for hours to find a flight deputy to operate its search-and-rescue plane, a $1.7 million Cessna surveillance aircraft, equipped with both infrared and zoom-lens cameras. Flight data reviewed by The Journal showed that by the time the plane got up in the air to begin its search, it was getting too dark to use its zoom-lens cameras.

The WSJ said that Nanos has disputed its findings. “I can assure everybody that we are working hard every day with all of our partners,” the sheriff said, including “corporate America,” which has “offered up some assistance with some of the brightest minds in this country.” He added, “This case is not cold.” THR has also reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment.

In addition to coming under fire from his own department, as Nanos was accused in March of hiding an extensive disciplinary record, the sheriff has also been criticized by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel.

Neither Nanos and Patel has announced any further breaks in Nancy’s case, despite the latter also promising early on to lead the charge on the federal side. In May, during an interview on Sean Hannity’s Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast, Patel accused Nanos of sidelining FBI agents early in the investigation. “For four days, we were kept out of the investigation,” he said.

The sheriff pushed back against those claims in an interview, stating that there weren’t any delays. If Patel “really believes that we tried to block them or keep them out of this or not share things,” Nanos said, “I, 100 percent, want him to call me because that’s the furthest from the truth.” According to The Journal, Nanos said he has never spoken to Patel.

Throughout the case, Savannah has continued to take to social media, pleading for answers in her mom’s disappearance. On Saturday, after Nanos released a pair of ransom notes initially sent to the CBS affiliate in her home city of Tucson, Arizona, the Today co-anchor asked that anyone with information come forward.

“We are begging for help. We are desperate. We need someone to come forward,” Savannah wrote on Instagram. “Someone knows something. Someone suspects something. Someone recognizes the writing in the ransom demand notes. Someone has noticed something different, strange, troubling or just unusual — perhaps with someone they deeply love. Perhaps they are afraid to come forward. Perhaps they are conflicted. Perhaps they are angry or upset for being in this situation. There is a way out — to tell what you know. You can do so anonymously. The reward is available.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the notes “purport to have been written by kidnappers.” The second note, which was sent to the CBS affiliate on Feb. 6, stated that Nancy “perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart related. She is buried in nature now.”

Authorities said they decided to share the ransom notes publicly in hopes that someone recognizes “distinctive patterns of word choice, syntax and phraseology that reflect the writer’s unique linguistic style.”

Ariana Grande is planning to take a step back from the public eye after the Eternal Sunshine Tour wraps, including dropping out of Sunday in the Park with George.

This decision comes after the Grammy-winning singer has faced a wave of online commentary surrounding her health and body over the last year. Most recently, discussions intensified after the release of her new music video for her song “Petal,” with many fans pointing out her noticeably thinner appearance in the footage.

“Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” her rep shared in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday. Her tour concludes on Sept. 1 after her 10-show residency in London.

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” the rep added. “This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”

Grande has been booked and busy the last few years, filming Wicked and Wicked: For Good, which released in 2024 and 2025, respectively. She had also been campaigning for awards for both films, ultimately earning a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Glinda in the first film.

On the music side, she dropped her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, in 2024, before heading out on a 3-month-long tour starting in June. She also just released her eighth studio album, Petal, at the end of July.

A source close to the singer also told THR that her new album is “a fight song.” They added that it’s an “anthem about the love-hate relationship with the public and their toxicity. This album is not about any romantic partner or breakup in that way.”

Grande next stars in Focker-in-Law, opposite Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, which hits theaters on Nov. 25. It’s unclear if Grande plans to participate in the film’s upcoming press tour.

The “hate that i made you love me” singer was also set to appear, opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey, in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. However, THR confirmed Grande will no longer be participating in the project, which opens at London’s Barbican Centre next summer. The production will cast another lead to replace Grande.

“Following this evening’s announcement from Ariana Grande’s team, we can confirm that she has decided to step back from Sunday in the Park with George,” Empire Street Productions shared in a statement. “We know this cannot have been an easy decision, and she makes it with our complete understanding and support. The production will open at the Barbican in summer 2027 as planned, and casting will be announced in due course.”

People was first to report the news of Grande stepping back from visibility after the tour.

Caitlin Huston contributed to this report.

Morgan Wallen‘s I’m the Problem is back on top of Billboard‘s albums chart, the publication reported on Sunday, more than a year after the country star first released the project in May 2025, and over seven months since the album last reached number one back in January.

I’m the Problem managed to best both Olivia Rodrigo‘s eight-week-old You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love and Charli XCX‘s brand new Music, Fashion, Film in one of the tightest chart races of the year so far. Wallen earned 80,000 units this week, while Rodrigo’s LP, which topped the charts for two weeks this summer, came in with just under 80,000 units. Charli’s Brat follow-up, meanwhile, opened with 78,000 units.

While I’m the Problem hasn’t hit No. 1 since January, it’s been a chart monster overall, staying in the top 10 since its release over a year ago. It’s one of two top 10 albums for Wallen, with his 2023 album One Thing at a Time clocking in at seven this week. I’m the Problem has spent 63 weeks on the Billboard albums chart, while One Thing at a Time has racked 178 weeks.

Wallen’s number one return comes as the singer released his latest song, “Been by Now,” last Friday. The question now becomes where that song will land on Monday’s new Hot 100 chart.

Through all his controversies, Wallen remains the biggest streaming act in a country boom that’s also propelled the likes of Zach Bryan, Luke Combs and Ella Langley, the latter of whom currently has three songs in the top 10 on the Hot 100, including song of the summer contender “Choosin’ Texas.”

For Rodrigo, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love has logged its fifth consecutive week at number two after spending its first two weeks atop the chart. For Charli, Music, Fashion, Film opens with a similar debut to Brat, which debuted with 77,000 units back in 2024.

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are getting an early start on spooky season.

The duo made a surprise appearance at a Cinespia screening of their beloved 1998 movie Practical Magic on Saturday night, arriving to screams from the crowd at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

“[Practical Magic] is [the] perfect movie to show at a cemetery,” Bullock said to the crowd, as Kidman added, “Thank you for all your support for getting this second film made that’s coming to you very soon.” They also introduced the sequel’s new additions in Joey King and Maisie Williams, sharing a toast among themselves and the audience.

The night helped stir up excitement ahead of the upcoming sequel, which sees Bullock and Kidman reprising their roles as orphaned sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. In the original, the two — raised by their witch aunts Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Aunt Franny (Stockard Channing) — embrace witchcraft after avoiding it most of their lives. The sisters work to learn how to use their powers to ward off a curse that threatens women in the family from finding love, and leaves men they fall in love with dead.

In Practical Magic 2, set 25 years later, Bullock’s character now has two daughters — played by King and Williams — who have their own witchy abilities. King’s character discovers dark family secrets that plunge the Owens family into a crisis, and the women must confront the dark curse that threatens to unravel them once and for all.

Wiest and Channing have also returned for the follow-up, alongside other new additions Lee Pace, Xolo Maridueña and Solly McLeod.

The Perfect Couple‘s Susanne Bier directed the film, which hits theaters Sept. 11. Bullock and Kidman are producing the sequel alongside Denise Di Novi, who was also behind the 1998 movie. Practical Magic is also returning to theaters for one night only, on Aug. 11, in preparation for the new film.